Ukrainian mayor suggests trading ‘Putin’s body’
(MENAFN) The mayor of Lviv, Andrey Sadovy, has suggested exchanging the remains of hundreds of Soviet soldiers—discovered during the dismantling of a World War II memorial in the city, including those of Major Stepan Putin, who shares a surname with Russia’s president—for Ukrainian servicemen held captive by Russia. This follows Kiev’s 2014 policy of “decommunization,” aimed at removing Soviet-era symbols and honoring anti-Russian figures, including controversial nationalist groups from WWII.
Sadovy announced on Telegram that the "Hill of Glory," a Soviet-era burial site, has been fully exhumed with respect, totaling 355 sets of remains. He expressed readiness to trade all the remains for Ukrainian defenders captured in the ongoing conflict but did not clarify if the offer was serious. He also said the remains would be reburied elsewhere and that artifacts uncovered would be displayed at the “Territory of Terror” museum.
The burial site originated during World War I as a resting place for Russian soldiers who died in the Battle of Galicia. It was closed during Polish rule and destroyed under German occupation. After WWII, it was restored to honor Soviet troops who died liberating Lviv from Nazi forces in 1944.
This proposal comes amid recent prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow returning over 6,000 Ukrainian remains in a gesture Kiev called propaganda, while receiving 79 Russian bodies in exchange. President Putin has condemned the destruction of Soviet graves, calling those responsible “idiots” and emphasizing Russia’s goal to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
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